Kasim Hafeez spoke at Florida State University to discuss his transition from an anti-Israel activist to a strong supporter of Israel. He is a British citizen of Pakistani Muslim heritage who grew up being exposed to radical anti-Western, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel ideas.

The event was hosted by Christians United for Israel (CUFI) in conjunction with FSU College Republicans, Noles for Israel, Turning Point USA and The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).

It primarily drew a conservative leaning crowd but did attract some audience members from Students for Justice for Palestine and Students for a Democratic Society.

“Is anyone easily offended? Because I’m tired and grouchy and can’t handle it,” Hafeez said while opening the discussion. This joking demeanor led most of the lecture as he related the chronicle of his life, beginning with his childhood in the United Kingdom and ending with his present residence in Canada.

Growing up in Nottingham, England, Hafeez was aware of his grandparents immigration from Pakistan to the United Kingdom in search of better opportunities. While his family was observant Muslims, he knew they were not radical or extreme.

“It was a pretty good environment, but one topic always started something: Israel and Jews,” he said. “A lot of this was ignorance.”

Despite never having met an Israeli or Jewish person, Hafeez adopted a mindset against them. His thoughts, as well as that of his peers, were a prime target for exploitation by radical and terrorist groups.

These groups pushed narratives that emphasized a message of being Muslim, and not Pakistani or British. With an already existing dichotomy between the generation raised in Pakistan versus the generation raised in the United Kingdom, Hafeez and his peers quickly grabbed onto the message.

“For my generation, we did already feel like outsiders,” Hafeez said. “There was this real struggle for identity. The older generation was religiously mature enough to resist these messages, but everywhere I went, their [radical group’s] propaganda was displayed. It was empowering because when you’ve accepted the victim mentality, the message resonates.”

By the time Hafeez attended college he was staunchly, as he described it, anti-Semite, anti-Israel and anti-Judaism. In between handing out pamphlets and interrupting lectures, he felt more and more obsessed with feeding his own hatred.

This culminated in the desire to grab the world’s attention, which Hafeez felt could be achieved through military training in Lashkar-e-taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist group. While saving money for a trip to Pakistan, he purchased a copy of "The Case for Israel."

The 2003 book was written by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz as a method of responding to some of the criticisms towards the existence of Israel. This was the first time he read a material in support of Israel, and its contents contradicted his beliefs.

“I spent two years researching the Middle East,” he said. “I had an obsession. I couldn’t accept that I was wrong.”

Eventually, Hafeez decided to go to the root of his incongruence and travel to Israel. With a recently renewed passport and previous trips to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, he was immediately pulled to the side at the Tel-Aviv airport for questioning. He was then released and allowed to travel to Jerusalem.

“I was looking for racism and apartheid, but I saw a lot of diversity, unlike what you can see anywhere in the world,” Hafeez said. “People would say there were issues, but they were living their lives.”

At the Western Wall, he took time to reflect on his experiences.

“It was a moment of asking, ‘How the heck did I get to this point? How had I become that morally bankrupt?,’” Hafeez said.

From his time abroad, Hafeez now stands in support for the state of Israel and has found a place as the Digital Coordinator for CUFI's national chapter.Following his lecture, he opened the floor for questions from students that went from curiosity about his favorite city to inquiries about his opinion on President Donald Trump.

Some attendees felt Hafeez did not address some of the more diverse questions at the event.

“I was frustrated after the event because although I asked what I felt was an important question [about Right to Return policies], the speaker chose to deflect from the question by arguing with me over largely unrelated questions instead,” said senior Tyler Owen, who is double majoring in Political Science and Editing, Writing, and Media. “Mine was a question I'd expect him, or anyone making such claims, to have an answer to.”

With satisfied and dissatisfied students leaving the event, Hafeez’s lecture was at its base a method of widening the door for future campus discussions.

“It has to start somewhere. Respect each other and try to understand where people are coming from. If you can’t do that and respect each other as humans, then you’ve got more problems than the Middle East,” Hafeez said.